While we wait for actual games to resume, here are some links you might enjoy…
- Evaluating catchers: Framing pitches – part 3 (Hardball Times). More fascinating stuff from Max Marchi…
- The Real Realignment Solution (Baseball Prospectus). Kevin Baker takes a stab. He isn’t the only one.
- Trade market snapshot (Inside the Padres). Tom Krasovic notes that this year’s market is a bit slow, which is unfortunate for the Padres.
- What made Dick Williams great (Hardball Times). Bruce Markusen remembers the former Padres manager. Christina Kahrl does the same. So does Chris Jaffe.
- SD-LA: “There goes the no-hitter, the shutout, and the ballgame” (Baseball-Reference). John Autin examines last week’s debacle (well, one of them anyway) at Chavez Ravine.
- Darnell’s turn as DH in Futures a step to bigs (Padres.com). Sweet, I can’t wait until our “DH” arrives in San Diego.
- Rizzo’s struggles haven’t hurt his confidence (NC Times). Quoth Anthony Rizzo: “When I get going, it’s going to be scary.” Quoth me: “Everyone relax, the kid will be just fine.”
- FanGraphs Power Rankings – 7/11/11 (FanGraphs). I never tire of seeing how valuable Cameron Maybin has been this season relative to the fungible flingers he fetched from Florida. [h/t reader Didi]
- Mid-season Heroes and Goats, Part 1 (Baseball Prospectus). Case in point, if Maybin continues on his current pace, he will have a career total of 5.6 WARP by year’s end. From the article:
…of the 17 outfielders selected to this year’s All-Star game, only five — Matt Kemp, Andrew McCutchen, Jay Bruce, Carlos Beltran, and Ryan Braun — had more than five WARP before the end of their age-24 seasons.
I’m good with that.
- Padres Broken At The Break (619 Sports). Unfortunately, the rest of the team stinks.
- Adrian Gonzalez from rags to riches (Gaslamp Ball). The Red Sox are so far removed from my experience that I sometimes forget Adrian still plays baseball.
- NY Yankees America’s Favorite Baseball Team for Ninth Year in a Row (Sacramento Bee). Harris Interactive has been running this poll every year since 1999, when the Padres reached an all-time high of 17th on the heels of a friggin’ World Series appearance. It’s good to have one’s general feeling of disenfranchisement validated by some poll. [h/t Gaslamp Ball]
- Ducks On The Pond (Joe Blogs). Joe Posnanski notes of the Padres that “in general this is a pretty depressing offense to watch play.” We all look up, nod our heads, then return to knitting.
I love Joe’s comment that the Padres “lead the National League in steals which, in a weird way, makes them LESS exciting to watch because it all feels so futile. “
Krasovic’s “Inside the Padres” blog post paints a pretty bleak picture of what we may be getting from the upcoming trades of Bell/Ludwick/(Adams?). I hope the Rodriguez-to-Milwaukee trade will spike the market for closers. It’s going to be depressing if we don’t get high-value prospects for these guys.
@USMC
We should ratchet down our expectations for trades, but some of those “unnamed exec” comments sound inane. Throw in money for Bell? He’ll only make about 3M for the rest of the season, and while his declining K rate scares me in terms of an extension, what RH reliever is more coveted right now? I’m all for adding money if it improves the prospect, but we should be able to get a B+ type without adding anything at all.
My current addiction to mlbtradrerumors is compromising my work production.
@TW: that comment was made prior to the ASG in which Bell showed off his physical prowess:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4d3_zRH7EA
this should increase his trade value, I think.
@TW: I covet Adams more than I covet Bell.
How do we begin to covet, Pat?
So the trade market is slow – but Jed Hoyer said he’ll expect “impact players” in any trades. Is this a negotiating ploy, or is he signaling that the team will stand pat and do it’s dealing in the offseason? The savings this season on Bell and Ludwick are not large, Hawpe can be bought out cheaply enough, and Harang looks like a bargain, so I’m beginning to think Jed’s not going to do much, unless he can send Hudson to Detroit and Bartlett to Milwaukee.